6. The snow storms the U.S. has experienced this year are weather. Climate, on the other hand, is the pattern of weather over many years. Cold weather doesn’t mean the overall climate isn’t getting warmer.

*Hot air tends to cause droughts. It also tends to hold on to more moisture. That means that when it does finally rain or snow, it comes down more heavily.

*Not only that, climate change doesn’t cancel out the seasons, which are caused by the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Even if this decade is hotter than those in the past, winter will still exist each year.

*The last few winters have been the effect of an unstable polar vortex. Some research is pointing that the instability — which brings extreme snow to some regions while leaving others with mild temperatures — is coming from melting Arctic ice and other changes.

7. Still, one question remains for the Senate: Do you want to build a snowman?